Bipartisan resistance to ERS, NIFA moves emerges in competing bills to end shutdown

House Democrats and Senate Republicans remain bitterly divided over President Donald Trump's call for border-wall funding, but they appear to be on the same page about delaying USDA's controversial proposal to relocate a pair of research agencies outside of the Washington area. A new Senate proposal to reopen the Agriculture Department and other agencies shuttered by the monthlong spending impasse takes issue with "unknown costs associated with the proposed move” of the Economic Research Service and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture.The Senate blueprint for ending the partial government shutdown, expected to be voted on this week, is perhaps the most prominent example of Republicans pushing back against Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue’s plan to relocate both research agencies before the end of 2019. The House is also expected to vote this week on an appropriations measure that includes similar report language calling for an indefinite delay of the ERS and NIFA proposals — demonstrating bipartisan support for slowing the USDA's effort.